Sediment cores from northwestern China reveal freezing conditions during the Late Triassic killed off many forms of life—but not dinosaurs.

Katherine Kornei
Katherine Kornei is a freelance science journalist covering Earth and space science. Her bylines frequently appear in Eos, Science, and The New York Times. Katherine holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Community Scientists Recover Micrometeorites from Lake Michigan
A team of scientists, educators, and teenagers discovered the objects, some of which may have been delivered by a fireball that streaked across the sky in 2017.
Precession Helped Drive Glacial Cycles in the Pleistocene
By studying bits of rock scooped up by ancient glaciers, researchers have pinned down that recent glacial variability was driven, in part, by changes in the direction of Earth’s axis of rotation.
Zhurong Rover Spots Evidence of Recent Liquid Water on Mars
The Chinese rover identified hydrated minerals—likely associated with groundwater—in sediments dating to the Red Planet’s most recent geologic period.
Chinese-Led Solar Research Is Looking Bright
With new missions underway and planned, China is stepping up to observe our nearest stellar neighbor.
Pluto’s Surface Was Recently Sculpted by Icy Volcanism
Geologically young regions of Pluto’s southern hemisphere were likely resurfaced by cryovolcanism, data from the New Horizons spacecraft reveal.
Impact Structure Hidden Under Arctic Ice Dates to the Paleocene
Greenland’s Hiawatha impact structure, more than 30 kilometers in diameter, is much older than previously thought, new results suggest.
Magma Lingers at Different Depths on the Basis of Its Water Content
The discovery, gleaned from observations of volcanoes on four continents, could help constrain models of volcanic eruptions.
Saturn’s Powerful Winds Explain Changes in the Length of Its Day
Atmospheric winds moving at more than 7,000 kilometers per hour distort Saturn’s magnetic field, revealing why spacecraft have measured changes in the length of a day on the ringed world.
Martian Meteorites Reveal Evidence of a Large Impact
By analyzing rare Martian meteorites, researchers have uncovered a crystalline structure created by a large asteroid or comet impact that potentially affected the Red Planet’s habitability.